Killer Red Fox – Ep. 5 | National Geographic Presents: IMPACT With Gal Gadot

GAL: "We live for the next seven generations. Everything we do, and everything we don't do, impacts the next seven generations." This way of life has been passed down to Chief Shirell from her ancestors, whose land is being lost to climate change. Committed to leaving the world a better place, she's leading the fight to protect the environment and all generations to come. This is Chief Shirell's Impact.

CHIEF SHIRELL (off-screen): All of my family is here. My father and my Uncle T-Man, who's our former Chief. My mother's parents. And our family for so many generations. We are the land. This is what we know. But I've had to grow up hearing about how long my people's voice was suppressed. They were prevented from making progress; they were prevented from being native. Outsiders would come in and did whatever they wanted without any consideration for our people.

(explosion) We're dealing with all of the man-made damages that were caused. And now we have climate change too. You know, I took the position as Chief because I couldn't take the heartache that I was witnessing anymore. As leader, my job as Chief is to represent my people. Take their voice and carry it where it needs to go. We should be at the forefront of every opportunity that can bring our future generations' security.

MAN (off-screen): This used to be a beautiful place. Some people, a lot of 'em was born and raised here, you know, it's their culture, it's their way of life. You know, it's in their heart.

MAN 2: Born and raised down here.

MAN: All our lives. And this our livelihood, you know? We need the shrimp to survive. Finding less shrimp to catch has been way smaller.

MAN 2: Oh, it makes you feel bad.

MAN 3: Yeah, it hurts.

MAN 2: It's for the grandkids, you know. It's gonna be hard on them and it's gonna be getting harder to come back down here and knowing it's just gonna be open gulf one day.

CHIEF SHIRELL: You know with all those storms and everything, and the COVID; our shrimpers are struggling.

MAN 4: Right.

CHIEF SHIRELL: The monies that they had gotten for the shrimpers, they still have not gotten any of that yet. So these people are struggling, that's their whole income.

WOMAN (off-screen): My grandfather, my mom's dad, he had, I mean, acres and acres of land and now there's hardly anything left. The erosion's been taking over, all the storms and it's just a lot of things are not even there anymore.

GIRL: I got it!

CHIEF SHIRELL: My native name is Killer Red Fox and that's because I'm known for attacking and killing bad policy. Yeah, you see how that's gettin' all eaten up?

MAN (off-screen): Yeah. A lot of the, like, the canals are dug for oil companies and once the well is done, they don't put nothin' back. It stays open. So really, it's been washed out.

CHIEF SHIRELL (off-screen): This storm season was bad. We lost a lotta land. I know we did. We can't afford to lose anymore land.

MAN (off-screen): No.

CHIEF SHIRELL (off-screen): These bayou communities stick out like fingers. It used to be all land. But now they're just these little strips. Every time a hurricane comes in, they literally could be gone. We're losing our whole identity if nothing is done and to those that say that nothing can be done, no. Something can always be done.

MAN: There's always something that could be done to preserve the land.

CHIEF SHIRELL: We understand our environment. And we will fight as long as it takes to do whatever it takes to repair her and stay where we belong. We know that they tore us up. We got all those canals, that's part of that work, is to raise that awareness and get some accountability and responsibility going so that we can have futures for our kids and our grandkids.

Good morning, Miss Kristy, it's Chief Shirell.

CHIEF SHIRELL (off-screen): Being a Chief and a mom is interesting, and I have four children, so you have to get really good at prioritizing on the spot, because just one little thing thrown into your day can just throw everything off. (thunder, rain) It's my tribal citizens here. Okay. Everything that I have to deal with on a personal level as a person, a mom, they deal with too. My duty is to these people to make sure that they're okay. Yep, all my insulation just got all ripped up. God, have mercy. Couple houses down the road, I mean, they literally lost their whole roof and everything. All I kept thinking about was, "God protect my kids". Some people can look and just say, "Wow, why don't y'all move?". You can't. You don't know how to live anywhere else. This is your life. This is your identity.

Even worse than that, the property values are so low, we can't sell to try to get something in another location because you're not gonna get the money you need.

WOMAN: It's like Indian country is completely left off of their radar.

CHIEF SHIRELL: We have to push and we have to fight our way through all these obstacles but that's all right, we're gonna keep pushing and fighting through.

WOMAN: My grandma grew up down here and I think even her mother. If we can't continue our traditions here, where are we supposed to start it again?

CHIEF SHIRELL: Okay. Watch, we're gonna set all those out for you. Then we're gonna smudge. When my uncle was Chief, I didn't think I could do the job. I didn't. He sat me down and he goes, "You know what makes a good Chief?". I said, "No, no, I don't." "A Chief is someone who serves". My job is to serve my people.

CHIEF SHIRELL (over bullhorn): I think it's time that we stop being quiet about what all of the big industries are doing to us. You know, taking our lands, polluting our air, you know, polluting our waters.

CHIEF SHIRELL (over computer): What we've had to do is work with advocacy groups so that we could have a voice and make sure that we have a seat at the table.

CHIEF SHIRELL (off-screen): People that are outsiders, they see this title as Chief as this glorified thing, and I'm going, "No". When people have needs and it's my job to ensure that their needs are met.

You got it, Miss Marlene?

MARLENE: Oh, yeah.

CHIEF SHIRELL: So happy to be able to share the sweet potatoes this year.

MARLENE: Thank you so much, Chief.

CHIEF SHIRELL: You're very welcome.

BOY: How was your day, Mom?

CHIEF SHIRELL: It was definitely an interesting adventure. And we're gonna check everything out at the cemetery.

BOY: What are people gonna do to a cemetery?

CHIEF SHIRELL: Well, we've been planning on fixing the cemetery and protecting it.

BOY: The water's making it sink?

CHIEF SHIRELL: That's happening a lot.

BOY: Who's Abby?

CHIEF SHIRELL: Come, Sam. I'll show y'all what's going over there.

BOY: Adam Parfait.

CHIEF SHIRELL: Mm-mm.

BOY: That was not even.

CHIEF SHIRELL: Watch, be careful.

BOY: Mom, I found two different Parfaits.

CHIEF SHIRELL: C'mon, y'all.

BOY: Come on.

CHIEF SHIRELL: The cemetery is very dear to me on many, many levels. Because of the resilience and the determination of our ancestors, we are still here. I can break down all of these things that I tell you that I do. And it adds up to one word. Love. Our saying is that we live for the next seven generations. Everything we do and everything we don't do is going to impact them.

MAN: Here you go, Emily.

EMILY: Mine's nibbling too.

MAN: Is it nibbling too?

CHIEF SHIRELL: There you go.

EMILY: Yeah. I still feel it.

MAN: And they're real, the fish'll probably pull them in.

EMILY: I got a biggest (inaudible).

CHIEF SHIRELL: Yeah, I want my kids to know what this is. We all do. Because there's a, I've been a lot of places; I have, I've traveled. And I could tell ya, I had to come home. Because it's just not the same, anywhere else.

MAN: And I'm gonna turn around and we'll keep that one. Yeah, put it on your side.

BOY: I did it.

CHIEF SHIRELL (off-screen): Because of the challenges that we're facing, we have an opportunity with the time that we've been given to do something good for the next generations.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Captioned by Cotter Media Group.